Frederick M. Winner (1912-2003)
| Publication year | 2015 |
| Pages | 63 |
Frederick M. Winner (1912-2003)
By Brian T. Campbell, John L. Kane, Brad March, Bruce D. Pringle
About the Authors
Brian T. Campbell is a Denver County Court Judge. John L. Kane is Senior Judge, Federal District Court for the State of Colorado. J. Brad March is a named partner with the Fort Collins firm of March, Olive and Pharris, LLC. Bruce D. Pringle, a retired member of the Colorado bar, served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Colorado.
Authors' Note:
Portions of this article were taken from materials prepared by Senior Judge John L. Kane, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, as a history of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, Tenth Circuit Court Library. Reproduction of the material has been approved by the court's Historical Committee.
Fred Winner was one of Colorado's greatest trial lawyers. Attorneys confronting Winner for the first time were apt to underestimate him. Freddie was not particularly imposing—he was perhaps 5"7" and so thin that he could hide behind a five iron. He was prone to slouching in his chair and crossing his legs at both the knees and ankles in a most unusual manner. He rarely wore a suit in the courtroom, preferring a well-worn sport coat, usually with several burn holes from ash that routinely escaped from his ever-present pipe. Typically, the only items on his counsel table were a yellow pad, a pencil, and a couple of law books.
This unassuming facade, however, masked a lawyer with the mindset of a field general with a love of the game. He was a master of molding a plethora of facts into a unified and compelling theme. Every question on direct and cross-examination, and every objection, was carefully designed to forcefully support his theme and convince the judge and jury of the indisputable correctness of his client's position. Winner's extensive preparation and his ability to present his client's story in a simple and cogent fashion typically made his opponent's case seem ill-conceived and overly complex.
Winner's excellence as a trial lawyer earned him an appointment to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. He brought to the bench the same penchant for extensive preparation and a contempt for attorneys who came to court unprepared. Oddly, these qualities that had made him a successful trial lawyer gave him a reputation among some members of the bar of being an irritable and impatient federal judge.
Childhood and Schooling
Frederick Morse Winner was born in Denver on April 8, 1912, two days before the Titanic set sail on her fateful maiden voyage. His grandfather had been the first mayor of Castle Rock. His mother, Clara Morse Winner, was born in Colorado and had met his father, F. N. Winner, before her 1906 graduation from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU). Freddie was raised by his grandparents from the age of 6, after his mother died in the influenza epidemic of 1918.
Following graduation from East High School, Winner, like his parents, attended CU, graduating in 1933 with degrees in business and economics. He initially attended the University of Michigan Law School, but after a year, he and his wife Frank Homer Ransburger (Frankie), whom he had met in 1931 while attending CU and married in 1933, returned to Colorado for financial reasons. In 1936, Winner received his LLB from the CU School of Law (CU Law), where he served as class president and established lifetime friendships with classmates who would leave their own mark on Colorado's legal history.[1]
During the Great Depression, work of any type was scarce. While attending law school, Winner worked odd jobs and, after graduation, began his legal career as a process server. He periodically worked for short periods in his father's foundry, the Winner Equipment Company. Additionally, to pay the bills, he wrote the Colorado annotations to the Restatement of the Law of Agency.[2] During this time, the Winners' two daughters, Claire and Margaret, were born.
Early Law Practice and the Military
Winner rented his first office space at 17th and California Streets in downtown Denver for $12.50 a month.[3] The colorful and legendary litigator Max D. Melville[4] had an office down the hall.[5] Melville took notice of Winner's strong work ethic and sharp mind, which led to their long association and strong mutual respect.
When World War II broke out, Winner joined the Navy. Assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander before his discharge in 1946. Following his discharge, he returned to Denver; placed his deceased father's business, the Winner Foundry, on a sound financial footing; addressed Denver's condemnation of the business property; sold the business; and returned to the practice of law.
Over the next twenty-four years, Winner earned a reputation as one of Colorado's elite trial lawyers. He shared an office with Max Melville, as well as with such legal icons as Edward Pringle, Duke Dunbar,[6] and Bob Kingsley. Although Winner was involved in innumerable civil cases at both the trial and appellate levels, he specialized in defending the First Amendment on behalf of clients such as United Press International, the Associated Press, the Rocky Mountain News, and various other publishers, news agencies, and newspapers. Winner argued one case, a bankruptcy matter, before the U.S. Supreme Court.[7] His opponent was another legendary Colorado lawyer, George Creamer.
From 1951 to 1954, he taught civil procedure at the Westminster Law School, now the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and was proud that his students had a 100% first-time pass rate on the bar exam.[8] Winner also came to be recognized as an expert in eminent domain, handling numerous cases arising from the Colorado Department of Highway's condemnation of properties for the construction of portions of the interstate highway system. He represented Vail Associates in connection with a taking of land for 1-70, and achieved a condemnation award of over $1 million. At the time, it was the highest condemnation award ever received in Colorado.
In the 1960s, Winner formed his own law firm with Bill Berge, Warren Martin, and Roland Camfield. He secured the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA) as a client, and the firm represented DURA throughout the Skyline Urban Renewal Project.[9]
Based on his broad experience and reputation, Winner's files became a significant source of material for the Colorado Jury Instructions for Civil Trials (CJI) when the CJI were first published. During his tenure in practice, Winner was primary counsel in more than seventy Colorado appellate cases. In addition, he was involved in even more frequent appearances in...
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